‘Girls,’ Season 2, Episode 8, ‘It’s Back’: TV Recap

This episode of “Girls” brings viewers back to the real world, or at least back to Brooklyn. The episode is about how both the girls and the boys are coping with the curve balls that life constantly throws at them.

Surprisingly, it’s only been a month since the first episode of the season. In that time we’ve seen 1. Marnie and Hannah drift apart, 2. Ray and Shosh come closer together (but they’ll inevitably fall apart), 3. Marnie and Charlie break up for good and 4. Hannah (date a black guy, break up with him, sleep with a 40 year-old) make some professional strides. But we learn something very important: the boys are leaving the girls in the dust when it comes to career and social development. Charlie and Adam seem to be doing MUCH better without Marnie and Hannah; Marnie has trouble accepting Charlie’s success; Hannah has trouble coping with the pressures that accompany the recent events of her life.

Is it surprising that the guys are moving forward while Hannah and Marnie are truly struggling? This episode directly compares Adam (with his circular saw and messy apartment–and does he ever finish anything?) and Charlie (who builds things that actually look like something and his nice neat apartment) — 2 different breeds of men who were badly hurt by Hannah and Marnie, respectively; yet these girls didn’t break them. They aren’t 100% defined by their relationships and they were able to use their break-ups to make themselves stronger. On the other hand we see Marnie and Hannah, who are still recovering from their break-ups and haven’t moved on to healthier situations.

(And the “It’s” from the episode’s title, surprisingly isn’t Hannah’s UTI from last episode…)

We start off at Adam’s apartment; he drinks curdled milk, then calls Hannah– a call which she promptly ignores but which sends her into doing everything eight times. I’ve never seen Hannah’s OCD manifest itself before, it seems strange that Adam would set it off and not the book deal.

Shosh, Ray and Marnie are walking through the park and Shosh is so worried about Jessa. Where is she? What’s she wearing? Is it linen? What language is she speaking? OMG, is she warm enough? Ray says Jessa is better off than any of them because she’s a hustler (in a good way). Marnie says this is classic Jessa, something goes wrong, she blames it on something, then runs away.

Oh by the way Marnie, Charlie made an app and has his own company. Now it’s a huge success, has a corner office in Chelsea and 11 employees. “We may never see her again,” Shosh says as Marnie runs off (presumably to stalk Charlie). Then we meet Rodika, who’s rollerblading (it’s so vintage!) and invites Shosh (and by default Ray) to her party. Ray does not want to attend this party, hates when Shosh uses air quotes and he’s 33 years old — “It’s creepy for me to go to a college party.” Shosh says it’s not creepy and she’s going and storms off.

Finally, we get more of a glimpse into Adam’s life– we see him attend an AA meeting. Adam has his stuff together–his break-up with Hannah left him in a bad place so he took himself to AA meetings.

Adam admits that at first he didn’t like Hannah but eventually he liked knowing she was going to be there and stay the night. ”It wasn’t “love” the way I imagined it. I just felt weird if I didn’t know what she was up to or whatever.” And she acted like he taught her everything: What street Central Park started on, or how to use soap. But she changed her mind and now Adam is exhausted. After the meeting, another AA member tells Adam that she’s very impressed by him and his honesty. She wants Adam to meet her daughter, after all she tells Adam he’s cuter than a dimple on a bug’s a–. Fabulous!

Adam calls Natalia, (on a landline, no less) and they agree to meet up. “You’ll know me, I’m very tall and semi-dashing. Your mother said you have great teeth so I’ll be looking at you like a creep.” All in all, this is going better than his relationship with Hannah.

Adam ends up meeting Natalia at a nice Italian restaurant. Natalia is way hot. And she works for a private eye and gets to be the decoy. Adam and Natalia are getting along really well and their date is easy-going and fun. For the first time, I feel like Adam is being himself.

Marnie did go to Charlie’s office. His office is crazy modern and full of (hot) young people. Charlie picks up on Marnie’s discomfort and her lie about “being in the neighborhood” (because come on, who is in Chelsea unless you’re rich and live there? Nobody is ever JUST in Chelsea for the hell of it). “I’m just here for support!” Marnie says. “From me or for me?” Charlie deadpans. He’s so over Marnie and she can’t stand it. Charlie is developing other apps besides “Forbid” (it prevents you from calling someone you shouldn’t call, such as an ex or an ex-boss. If you do want to call them, you have to pay $10 to “unforbid”). Charlie says Marnie was the inspiration for this app. “Do you need money, is that why you’re here?” Charlie is in a whole new world now, one that doesn’t include Marnie.

Hannah is (late) meeting her parents in front of The Carlyle. (I always factor in the Hannah cushion of 15 – 45 minutes, her dad says). Right away they notice Hannah’s OCD. Over dinner, Hannah tries to talk about her book but her mother asks about her “counting.” Her dad offers to bring her home to get her OCD straightened out. Hannah claims if something was going on she would say something about it. “It hurts me more than it hurts you. I’m the one who has to experience it, not you,” she says. “You don’t think we didn’t experience it? You think we didn’t suffer worrying about if you would have a normal life?” Her mom says they don’t know why Hannah has OCD — they are still married and never beat her. “It’s not our fault!” (OK, now I get Hannah just a bit more. Poor girl with her mom’s under-the-breath, side comments). In the middle of the performance by Judy Collins, Hannah runs to the bathroom (after she hits a guy in the arm eight times) to repeat a mantra (backwards and forwards).

Shosh ends up going to Ridika’s party without Ray, but all she wants to talk about is Ray. By the way, Ridika has a sick apartment and is throwing a sick party. I’ve never seen a party like that before (being thrown by a 21 year old). As Shosh leaves the building, the doorman tries to make conversation. He’s more into clubs, not parties, and feels like he’s seen Shosh before. She gives him a fake name (Is that Muslim or something, he asks a VERY WHITE GIRL) and tells him that he’s really hot for a doorman. They end up making out in the mail room. Is this the inevitable end for Ray and Shosh?

Meanwhile, Ray is on Shosh’s bed, in his boxers, reading a book. Luckily for him, his night gets a lot more interesting when Marnie storms in. “Charlie is living the dream. I thought he was going to be broken for at least 6 years. I mentally budgeted at least 6 years of brokenness.” Marnie says that it doesn’t matter how right you do things because people like Charlie (sad misses) end up living their dream, and people who are flailing behind are people like her (those who have their act together). Ray tells Marnie that she’s mad because she wants what he has. Ray asks Marnie what she really wants to do. If she wants to be a curator, open a small gallery. If she wants to be a mother, get pregnant. “Turn this potential energy into kinetic energy,” Ray says (he IS smart!). “I want to sing!” Marnie says. “What’s the second thing you want to do?” Ray deadpans. Marnie’s dream is to sing so Ray asks her to sing something. She goes with Norah Jones. It sounds good. I think Randy Jackson might like it, I’m not sure if Nicki Minaj would approve though.

Ray says if Marnie wants to sing, she has to do it now, while she’s young and looks this good “You can’t dress like a magician’s assistant for very much longer.” Wow Ray, giving life advice, and good life advice. Impressive. I would love to know what Ray’s hopes and dreams where, the ones he referenced on the Staten Island ferry– the ones that didn’t work out.

Hannah’s parents take her to a doctor for her OCD. Hannah isn’t pleased to be there (her parents aren’t either). Her dad is clearly the peace maker and suggests a trip to Serendipity afterwards. Hannah says she’s not hungry and makes a joke about being anorexic and seeing another specialist. “Come on now, you’re not anorexic, that’s ridiculous. I’ve seen you in a bathing suit.” Wow. Most supportive parents of the year.

In the therapist’s office (the therapist is played by Bob Balaban), Hannah says the OCD/counting thing hasn’t manifested itself since high school. A lot of the things Hannah did in eights were sexual. Everything is done in eights (up to 64 times), including masturbating, checking her parents door, moving her toothbrush and her dad’s toothbrush). Hannah says that she’s anxious because she went through a break-up about a month ago. “He acted very crazy and not normal and is still trying to contact me.” Hannah tells the therapist that he wouldn’t understand her problems because it seems like he has willpower and general togetherness.

Hannah tells him about her book deal and about how it’s such a huge professional moment for her. Turns out the therapist has sold 2.5 million copies of a book series about a boy and his bionic dog that saves the world. “I will do anything you say if you just tell my parents that I’m OK,” Hannah tells the therapist. “Are you?” he asks.

On the subway back home (Hannah has some medication), she tells her dad “I hate it when you look so concerned about me.”

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